As Adele sings it... "In my hometown..." we appreciate our towns more.
I grew up in New York City so small town USA is not my wheelhouse.
But I've been told plenty of tales, stories, and scandals that come out of the heartland.
(Mostly thanks to Dateline NBC)
Much of the craziest in life happens in towns with only a handful of stoplights.
Let's hear some...
Redditor jvniper666 wanted to hear all the mess and drama about small town USA. So they asked:
"What’s your small town drama?"
When I was growing up in Astoria one summer. We had a kidnapper on the loose. That was intense.
"Trips"
gay men GIF
Giphy
"Several prominent men were caught having gay orgies during 'hunting trips.'"
Drained
"I lived in a smallish town (about 5000) in the 90s. We had one of those big water towers in the middle of town. Sometime in the 80s a town worker, who was unsatisfied with his job and life, decided to take his own life. One May night he jimmied himself up to the ladder that was 12 ft from the ground, climbed to the top, unscrewed the man hole at the top, and jumped in."
"Subsequently he drowned and wasn’t found for a few months. I wasn’t living in the town during the event, so I don’t know of any funny tasting or discoloured water from the taps, but the town assures the people that the filtration system had down its job and very minimal human waste made it through the filters. Everything was drained and disinfected."
dazedNdizorientated
Punched
"In the span of 4 months in a town of 800 someone was murdered and someone broke into the undersheriff’s house (presumably to rob the place) but his daughter was home the guy punched her in the face and ran. According to his daughter the guy 'punched like a little *itch."
birdofswag2
Rich Kid
"Rich kid son of local Chamber of Commerce president tries to burn down a homeless encampment, fire ends up burning right up to an expensive neighborhood. Gets arrested, released on bail, charges brought for trying to kill homeless, charges dropped, charged again with lesser crimes, eventually judge gently slaps his wrist and says he isn’t a criminal because he is mentally ill. Whole community is miffed, but not enough to get out pitchforks because only homeless people got hurt."
ThisIsDen
And Recliners?
Season 17 Television GIF by The Simpsons
Giphy
"The city government is trying to outlaw burning couches on your front lawn. I didn’t know this happened often enough to be an issue, but it’s getting a ton of push back."
handsthefram
Burning couches. That has to have an even more interesting story.
Manhunt
money run GIF by Juan Billy
Giphy
"I also should probably mention in the city, there’s a guy stealing catalytic converters all over the city and it’s having a city wide manhunt for this man that’s just ripping them off of anything he can get away with."
Link_hunter9
Crazy Year
"Our mayor got killed and it's possible to hear the gunshots on a local radio recording. He was being interviewed on that radio, left to his car and got shot seconds after leaving, it seems that he owed a lot of money to someone and got killed, it became news on the whole country, that was a crazy year."
Regular-Attorney-310
Vote on It
"City had a vote on whether to change the school mascot (a Native American with headdress). People who wanted to keep it rallied behind the son of the Native American man who initially created the mascot years ago. Then census evidence came out casting doubt on whether that guy was actually Native American."
scrotdust
The Spiller
"At one point in my hometown a Domino's manager was arrested for arson after burning down a Papa John's in an attempt to increase revenue."
Realistic-Cheetah-14
Rivals
Angela Bassett Burn GIF
Giphy
"At one point in my hometown, a Domino's manager was arrested for arson after burning down a Papa John's in an attempt to increase revenue."
Grentain
Any place you live holds secrets. And you place you live (big or small) has history. So embrace it all and spill that tea.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
@AhmedBaba_/X
@Greenshades9/X
@masonisonx/X
@NikonD330Fan/X
@elnopower/X
@ParapenteJohn/X
@andrewonseeair/Bluesky
@emer.net; @spryoldlorax/Bluesky
@dansynth54/Bluesky
@RibGoneRogue/X
@lizzicochrane/X
@rowast.com/Bluesky
@pinkmouse/Bluesky
@vicky8651/Bluesky
@fireinsp/Bluesky
